NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

In this paper, a remote data acquisition project using Bluetooth technology is presented for a
senior technical elective telecommunications course in the Electrical Engineering Technology
Baccalaureate Program at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. There are several noteworthy
characteristics of this project. First, the project used two Bluetooth modules which were each
interfaced to a computer through an RS-232 port. Second, LabVIEW was used as the software
development environment for communicating with the Bluetooth modules and for automatically
uploading and downloading information from a data collection process.

The system requirements for the remote data acquisition project consisted of a local computer
and a remote computer, simulating an environment for remotely collecting data. Each computer
contained a Bluetooth module that was configured as either a master or a slave. The master
initiated the establishment of a communication link with the slave, and the slave responded to the
master. The local computer executed a LabVIEW program that configured its Bluetooth module
as a master. The remote computer, which contained a data acquisition board for data collection,
executed a LabVIEW program that configured its Bluetooth module as a slave.

The purpose of the local computer was to transmit control information for the data collection
process to the remote computer. This information included the number of samples, the sample
rate, and the acquisition mode. The purpose of the remote computer was to acquire the proper
number of samples at the appropriate sample rate and to automatically upload the data to the
local computer. Once the remote computer uploaded the data, it was downloaded at the local
computer and displayed on a graph.

Results from both the local and remote computer programs are presented in order to verify that
the functional requirements of this design project were satisfied. Results from a student
assessment form are also presented. Conclusions and recommendations regarding the
educational benefits of using this design project within a Baccalaureate Electrical Engineering
Technology program are discussed.

I. Introduction to the Project

A senior technical elective course in telecommunications is offered as part of the Baccalaureate
degree in Electrical Engineering Technology at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. There are
two prerequisites for this course. The first prerequisite is a junior level communications systems
course which emphasizes an introduction to analog communication techniques. The second
prerequisite is a junior level measurements and instrumentation course which introduces
"Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition
Copyright  2005, American Society for Engineering Education"